A Rose and Lily
by Kessie-Louise
Summary: After his defeat at Castle Oblivion, Marluxia is taken to a place where he once visited before he became a Nobody. There, he sees his heart-filled self and a little girl who he almost cared for like a sister. Does contain an OC and the memory is five years before Marluxia became a Nobody.


When your heart separates from your body, you become a Heartless. But your soul still lives on in a Nobody, a soul is an eternal being. So what happens when your Nobody is defeated but not your Heartless? Surely the soul must go on to some place else.

Marluxia found out after being 'killed' by that KeyBlade Bearer. The moment he was taken away from Castle Oblivion, he found himself in a garden filled with flowers of all sorts of sizes, shapes, and colors. Some how, Marluxia found himself shocked at the sight of this garden. It was familiar, could it have been... the garden that he used to visit when he had a heart?

"Hey! Wait for me!" some kid said a few miles away. Marluxia looked in the direction where the child was coming from and realized that she was familiar too. As she got closer, he knew who she was. She was the daughter of the caretaker of the garden.

The little girl ran through the path Marluxia was in, and at first he thought she was going to stop when she got to him, but she kept on running. She ran right through him in fact. It was like he didn't even exist. He turned around to watch her run away and saw that several feet away was him when he had had a heart. His Heart-filled self was casually walking away like he couldn't hear the child although she was nearly screaming on the top of her lungs. It wasn't until the child was right next to him that Marluxia's Heart-filled self even acknowledge her.

"Hello there Lily." he said smoothly and calmly.

"Don't give me that tone buster brown!" the child talked back, containing more sass in her than on average. "I've been shouting for you to slow up for miles!"

"You have now?"

The little girl stomped her foot to show she was upset.

"Yes I have!" she protested. Marluxia's Heart-filled self cocked a grin and chuckled a little. At this, the child realized that he was only messing with her. This only made her more angry.

"Knock it off Lumaria!" the child demanded. If Marluxia had a heart, it would have stopped right then. That was his name before he was Nobody. He remembered the teasing that result from it, as the little girl soon demonstrated.

"I may have more sass than the average ten year old, but at least I'M not a boy with a girl's name!"

Marluxia's Heart-filled self's hand started to ball into a fist after the smile had been wiped clean off his face and replaced with a severe expression.

"I've told you never to tease my name child." Lumaria warned in a cold voice.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have been antagonizing me." Lily simply responded.

Even now Marluxia admired the child's skill to talk back and argue.

Lumaria closed his eyes and opened them again to look at a rose bush. Lily did the same.

"Do you remember why roses are red?" Lumaria asked the girl, his voice sounding smooth and calm again. Marluxia was suddenly hit with the feeling of knowing the story, told many times to that one girl, who he realized, was almost like a little sister to him which resulted in endless antagonizing.

Lily smiled a little and nodded.

"Once, there were only white roses in the world. But one day a butterfly fell in love with one of the roses. The rose told the butterfly that she would also fall in love with him if she were red. The butterfly saw no way of doing this, so he cut part of his body off so that his own blood turned the rose red. The rose fell in love with the butterfly that instant, but it was too late. The butterfly had died from it's sacrifice."

"And what does the story teach?"

"That love requires sacrifices." Lily and Marluxia both said at the same time, the story and lesson well memorized.

"Good." Lumaria congratulated the child, who gave a tiny smile in return. Marluxia watched the two, not sure whether to feel sick or touched.

From behind him, someone tapped Marluxia on the shoulder. Quickly he turned around and saw a older version of Lily. He jumped back in surprise. The older Lily smiled sweetly in return.

"Hello Lumaria. Or is it Marluxia? Which do you prefer? It doesn't really matter to us."

Marluxia opened his mouth to speak but was in so much shock he couldn't respond. The older Lily giggled a little, which just shocked Marluxia even more.

"Your Heartless still roams free Marluxia." the older Lily told him, regardless of which name he preferred. "However, your Nobody had been defeated. Until your Heartless is found, I'm afraid you can't stay here."

"Then... where...?" Marluxia breathlessly asked, acting as though his shock wasn't going to go away anytime soon.

"You have two options." the older Lily informed him. "You can go to a place where there is neither light nor dark, or you may watch over the one you most cared about when you were whole. It is up to you, just remember you can not take back your request, and you must stay there until your Heartless is found."

"Like... like an angel?" Marluxia asked.

"More guardian angel that fully realized angel, but yes, I suppose."

Marluxia looked back at Lily and Lumaria, but the duo where no longer there anymore. He turned back to the older Lily.

"I've made my decision." he told her. The older Lily smiled and took him to where he had chosen. He never could regret the place he had chosen.


End file.
